Single and Music Video Review: Jackson Colt Shake Your Body

Jackson Colt-Shake Your Body

Reviewed by Duzzy Clayton

Johannesburg Rock band Jackson Colt is back with their latest single Shake Your Body which from today 10^th April 2024, is armed with a cool music video to accompany it

Before I get into the very cool music video, I would like to talk about the track.

Is there nothing this band can’t do? You want a cool classic Rock song? They can do it!! , You want a ballad? They can do it!! And now if you want a rock song that you can dance to? They can do it, I am just waiting for them to release a rap hip-hop song then that would be very impressive, but knowing this band they can probably do that too.

Shake Your Body is a cool rock song but one that you can dance to, it has a catchy chorus, great music, and interesting lyrics and subject matter in the songwriting, and it is awesome

A bit of a change and difference from their previous ballad track Fallen Angel, Shake Your Body is more upbeat and fun to listen to.

Though the song is quite fun and upbeat, a lot of thought has gone into the subject matter of the song and the lyrics that are written, which is an interesting take on things, the Lead vocalist and guitarist Jackson Colt say about the song: “I envision ‘Shake Your Body’ unfolding in a setting reminiscent of 1980s Hollywood. A nightclub graces ‘Heartbreak Avenue,’ remaining open throughout the night, hosting vampires who revel in dancing away the hours. A lady, nursing a broken heart, steps into the nightclub. Observing the vampires dancing and singing, she later discovers she was bitten by her ex-lover before arriving, transforming her into a vampire and integrating her into the music.

These vampires symbolise the broken-hearted, nocturnal club-goers seeking to numb the pain of heartbreak. A vampire bite leads to transformation, mirroring how a broken heart turns one into a soul consumed by heartache. Dance and music play pivotal roles in the song, offering solace from heartbreak by immersing oneself in the melodies.

I aimed to craft a song that seamlessly blends danceability with a rock essence. Drawing inspiration from both 80s dance music and the robust sound of 80s rock, I wanted to fuse these musical styles. Writing and recording the vocals brought me immense joy, allowing me to explore my vocal range. The song maintains its rock identity while incorporating elements of 80s dance music. I particularly take pride in the high notes featured in the song.

The interplay between bass guitar and drums contributes to the song’s groove. The bass line establishes a danceable rhythm, complemented by drum accents that maintain the beat while incorporating stylish rock fills. The guitars contribute to the distinctive hard rock sound, featuring riffs inspired by 80s rock gallops and a blend of power chords and intricate licks. Playing the guitar solo was enjoyable, especially as the song takes a momentary break, allowing the solo to sync with the groove.

To enhance the guitar’s sonic landscape, we employed various delays and reverbs, creating a ‘futuristic/underwater’ ambiance. The resulting sound encapsulates the essence of the song, marrying dance music with the heavier tones of 80s rock.”

Once again I think Jackson Colt has come up with a great hit of the song and I can see this song doing well on radio stations around the world, it has everything you need to get airplay, a great song, great lyrics, its rocking and upbeat and once again a rock song you can dance too.

The music itself is awesome, from vocals to guitar and bass to drums, this song is set to compete with the best and deserves every success that comes its way, talking about the music, Jackson Colt’s secret weapon for this song is was produced by Dale Schnettler who is the drummer for Prime Circle fame, but is proving himself to be an awesome producer as well and seems to be the official producer on all of Jackson Colt’s music because the band’s past work also boasts his producing skills.

I think if Twilight was ever to make another film, this song and maybe even a music video would fit in well with all the vampires and biting the beautiful girl to make her yours forever storyline, and that is why I say this Video is so top-notched and well recorded that it can compete with the best videos and franchisees out there

I would like to congratulate all who worked on the recording of this track I see big things happening for Jackson Colt and this song might just be the track that makes the success happen

Music Video

So, my review doesn’t end there, as mentioned before today is release day for Jackson Colt- Shake Your Body music video, and what a great music video it is, anyone heard my previous interviews with Jackson, he does this cool thing when he writes music, that he sees or imagines colors well writing, which always seems to feed not only in the lyrics of the song as he paints a picture of the subject matter, but it also feeds into the single’s artwork and theme of photos being released, but now Jackson has taken that one step further and feed into the music video of Shake Your body, at first view of the video I am instantly taken aback with the bright pink of colors throughout the video.

For the video itself, most scenes were shot at AJ’s Pub in Johannesburg, this pub seems to have a significant sentimental to Lead vocalist Jack Colt because he once told me that Aj’s Pub was one of the first pubs he ever performed at a few years ago so it only seems fit that the music video is shot there.

If you remember the review above where Jackson Colt talks about what the song is about, I think the band did very well to bring that to life in the music video.

The video jumps from the story line to the band on the stage and it is quite cool to see how the video turned out considering I was there when some of the band’s on-stage shots were filmed. But what brings out in the video and was a nice touch to the video, is that the crowd in the video is almost cartoon-like, and in the filter that was used and once lending to the color scheme of the song and video that I spoke about earlier.

I would also like to mention Jackson’s acting skills are very good as he acts out the storyline as does the rest of the band both on stage and off.

I would like to congratulate all who helped make this music video come to life, it came out better than I could have imagined and you can all be proud